A week of pleasures - stories on paper and skin

TAA MOKO: Nigel Hamahona works his magic on Sandy. PICTURE: KELLY HARRISON

This week seemed to fly by, carried along by a constant joyous theme of storytelling, which funnily enough made this librarian quietly chuffed.
I guess the most obvious pleasures of being a librarian are the books that I get to look after within my library, the little treasures that house other worlds, adventures, secrets, opinions, desires that take us out of our lives and instantly envelope us in differentness and escapism. A not so obvious pleasure is that of my lovely customers. They are frequently and unwittingly telling their stories to me, to each other, and within groups held in the library. I love watching my patrons, the knitting ladies and my book club participants relaying their stories of the week, reliving the books they have read or simply participating in the bigger story around them.
The Inked @ the Library promotion has also provided a huge public platform to discuss tattoos and their ability to tell stories, ancestry and significant moments in the life of the individual who has chosen to permanently have that etched into their skin. Last Saturday saw Inked Live @ the Davis Library with local tattooist and carver Nigel Hamahona doing a taa moko centre stage during a normal Saturday afternoon at the library. This unusual event delivered the ideal opportunity for customers to engage in various forms of storytelling of their own tattoos and experiences with Nigel, Sandy, the recipient of the taa moko, and with those around them, including myself. It was a privilege to facilitate the coming together of the traditional home of books, stories, history and information - the library, and tattoo - the historical and timeless physical art of storytelling, ancestry and self-expression.
Your Ink, Your Story - another part of the Inked @ the Library promotion, is seeing stories of some of our locals and their ink becoming a tangible piece of local history and a taonga in its own right. Displays of these will be going up at the Gonville Café Library and Davis Library this week and I am still taking entries, so please contribute your stories of your ink.
Our quote of the week comes from Chinese philosopher and teacher Confucius (551-479 BC): No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.
¦For more information on any of the activities mentioned above call at The Gonville Café Library, phone 344 5872 or email kelly@wanganuilibrary.com.